The B-Gendarmerie was a secret military formation that was raised in

Allied-occupied Austria Austria was occupied by the Allies of World War II, Allies and declared independence from Nazi Germany on 27 April 1945 (confirmed by the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration for Germany on 5 June 1945), as a result of the Vienna offen ...

in the

aftermath of World War II The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two global superpowers, the United States (U.S.) and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementati ...

.https://www.bmlv.gv.at/omz/ausgaben/artikel.php?id=17 The unit, which was first created in 1949, was the predecessor of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

's Federal Armed Forces. It had duties similar to the Federal Border Guards (, or ''BGS'') in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and the Baracked People's Police (, or ''KVP'') in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. As the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

began to take shape in post-war Europe, the

Western Allies Western Allies was a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It primarily refers to the leading Anglo-American Allied powers, namely the United States and the United Kingdom, although the term has also be ...

began to secretly permit former

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

to re-establish armed units for defence without informing their former ally, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Former

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

officers and enlisted personnel were recruited to serve in the B-Gendarmerie. By 1954, the unit had grown to 100 officers and 4,000 troops. It was directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Name

The exact meaning of the "B-" in the word B-Gendarmerie has never been clarified because of how it was secretly created in 1949. Suggestions have included it means the or "stand-by" gendarmerie compared to the "normal" "A-" gendarmerie; or the as in "special" gendarmerie. Another theory is that the "B-" is simply camouflage to hide the true nature of the unit because at the time of its formation, the Allies were not officially recognising any military organisations of the former Axis powers.

History

After the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, the reinstated

n government wanted the country to be able to defend itself and to be able to take care of its own security. After initial scepticism, the allied Western powers also showed interest in this project. In particular, the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

takeover of power in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1947 and

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

in the following year caused this rethinking. Since all four occupying powers,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

had decided in 1945 to forbid any military activity in Austria, the Western Allies decided to allow the Austrian government to establish a paramilitary branch of the existing

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

. The formation of the B-Gendarmerie was primarily driven by the then Minister of the Interior, Oskar Helmer, and then Secretary of State and later Minister of Defence Ferdinand Graf. From 1949 onwards, the already existing alarm groups of the gendarmerie have been separated into independent alarm units, which were internally called B-Gendarmerie. They were intended to be a special unit of the gendarmerie and had the mission of dealing with extraordinary events such as illegal border crossings, internal disturbances or actions of subversive forces. The alarm units were primarily equipped with American weapons and equipment. The gendarmes, trained for military training, were now trained in the Gendarmerie schools, which, due to the secret character of the entire B-Gendarmerie, was also associated with problems such as recruitment. The Western occupying powers, that supported the entire project, had all information about secret recruitment lists and plans of the Austrians. The company, which was also designated as a gendarmerie special program, provided for the admission of former military officers knowledge in order to be able to dispose of them in wartime. By 1954 about 90,000 men have been registered. There were also plans for the soldiers of the B-Gendarmerie to be brought abroad, especially to Italy or North Africa, in the event of a communist coup, and to form an Austrian exile military force. In November 1954 it pointed out, that the Soviet Union was well informed about the activities of the B-Gendarmerie. However, this did not have any consequences since, the Soviet Union was now interested in a united neutral Austria due to the geopolitical situation. In 1950, the first permanent units were built. In each of the three western occupation zones one battalion, all under the cover of the gendarmerie academies have been built up. The beginning of the B-Gendarmerie can be fixed with the 1 August 1952 under the training and supervision of former officers. The new formation was directly subordinated to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The respective local governments were responsible for the administration. On 28 October 1953, a separate department for the B-Gendarmerie was created in the Ministry of the Interior, whereby it was completely separated from the civilian government. At the end of 1953, the B-Gendarmerie consisted of about 100 officers and 4,000 men. As a result, up to 1955 a total of 10 gendarmerie schools, two other driving units, a department D - a supply camp jointly run with the Americans, and a department K (K for courses (Kurs) in German) to take over the training of future officers, as well as two so-called telegraph schools. In 1954, the B-gendarmerie officially designated not only the protection of the frontier and the fight against unrest, but also the use of natural catastrophes and so-called tactical operations in the event of a war effort. The fear of war was not unfounded: the East-West conflict had developed into the

, and the war in Korea (1950–1953), which, like Austria and Germany after the Second World War, became a western and an eastern one Zone of occupation was seen as a proxy war, as it might also arise in other conflict zones.

References

Bibliography

* Blasi, Walter; Schmidl, Erwin A.; Schneider, Felix (2004). ''B-Gendarmerie, Waffenlager und Nachrichtendienste. Der militärische Weg zum Staatsvertrag'' (in German). Vienna: Böhlau-Verlag, . * Prieschl, Martin (2010). ''Keimzelle des Bundesheeres. B-Gendarmerie 1952–1955'' (in German). In: ''Österreich-Edition'' 21 oseblattsammlung Braunschweig: Archiv-Verlag. * Stifter, Christian (1997). ''Die Wiederaufrüstung Österreichs. Die geheime Remilitarisierung der westlichen Besatzungszonen 1945–1955'' (in German). Innsbruck: Studien-Verlag, {{ISBN, 3-7065-1176-2.

Name

History

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading (in German)